Chapter Thirteen: A Turnabout Gone Wrong
May was greeted by the sound of her colleagues chatting about their cases. She felt a slim pillow pressed against her head and a thin blanket covering the tip of her toes to the rim of her neck. Slowly, her eyelids opened and a saw a vision of Trucy sitting next to her bed. Her head spun round and round. She wasn't sure if she was dreaming or not.
Other than her colleagues, there were two dead women in the room: Mia Fey and Delia Ketchum. Both of them were wearing the same style kimono that Maya was wearing. She could tell that Maya had channelled her sister from the style of her hair. Delia's hairstyle pigtails were shaped like a cross between a pretzel and a heart. From Delia's hairstyle, she could tell that Maya's younger cousin, Pearl Fey was channeling her spirit.
"May!" Trucy exclaimed with tears dripping down her cheeks. "I'm so happy that you're alright."
"What happened to me?" May asked. She pushed herself against the back of the bed, as she looked down and saw a thin white dress covering her body. May gasped for breath, she felt so embarrassed to be in such a terrible state.
"You're in hospital," Trucy explained to her as she put her hands on her shoulders. Somehow, the calm tone in Trucy's voice helped calm her down. "The doctors said you had a heart attack caused by a caffeine overdose." May had noticed three red circles clustered together on the side of her neck. Then she remembered Ash saying that the spirit she channelled tried to strangle Trucy. Ash would have witnessed everything during recess.
"So you'll need to cut down on your coffee," Mia demanded. "Your dad died from the same thing."
May gasped. Trucy's touch seemed real, but seeing Mia and Delia standing next to each other still felt bizarre. She felt as if she was in a dream: a really bizzare one. "Mom? Mrs. Ketchum?"
"May, I'm really happy that you cleared Ash's name, but that wasn't me you channelled!" Delia said in a soft voice. "It was actually Dahlia Hawthorne."
"Your intentions were good," Phoenix praised May. "But there is a very good reason why I don't get Maya nor Pearls to channel the victims. Your grandmother was once hired to channel a spirit of a murdered victim, the spirit had accused the wrong person of murder. It caused your grandmother's reputation to be destroyed."
"But how did I end up channelling Dahlia Hawthorne?" May demanded to know. She didn't want a life story of her birth family, she just wanted to know how she ended up channelling the wrong person.
"Dahlia took over your body," Delia responded with her arms folded. "I couldn't have contacted you because Dahlia got in first."
"Dahlia used your lack of spiritual training to her advantage," Mia said. "You do have spiritual powers, which is explains why you can see psyche-locks without a magatama. Not even the most skilled of spirit mediums can do that."
"Sorry Trucy," May mumbled.
Trucy jumped. "What are you saying sorry for?"
"For strangling you!"
"That's not your fault," Phoenix told May. "You couldn't have controlled Dahlia's spirit anyway."
"Who was the last person you saw, Mrs. Ketchum?" Apollo asked Delia.
"Shelly De Killer," Delia replied. "He came in just as Ash and Misty left."
"So it must have been De Killer that shot you!"
Delia shook her head. "It wasn't him. He was holding a knife."
"Who would Dahlia Hawthorne be protecting?" Mia asked, scratching her chin.
"Her daughter, of course," Phoenix replied with a grin on his face.
"Dahlia Hawthorne has a daughter?" Mia exclaimed in utter disgust. Her eyes widened tenfold as her fists clenched by her side. "Who let that thing breed?"
"A transgendered woman from the Village of Dragons apparently," Phoenix sighed. "Before she had the sex change obviously."
May then remembered the rumour Gary was talking about in Pallet Town. "There was a rumour that Iris, the one who killed Shelly De Killer, is Dahlia Hawthorne's daughter."
"I did some investigations myself," Phoenix admitted, rubbing his cheek. "The rumours are true."
May could tell her mother had shivers down her spin. With a bitter look on her face, Mia said, "Iris could be following in her mother's footsteps..."
"Serena's trial is coming up soon," Athena shouted with her fists clenched. "And Iris is the prosecutor."
"Wait!" Trucy cried out. "Didn't Dahlia Hawthorne had a twin sister called Iris too?"
Phoenix nodded. "She did indeed."
"Why name a child after your sister?" Apollo asked. "Makes no sense."
"What do you want, May?" Ash growled before Apollo could get an answer. The Pokémon trainer marched into the room and dodged Mia and Delia. "My family said you wanted to see me."
"Ash, don't talk to her like that!" Delia screamed the whole place down so much, it put Apollo's chords of steel to shame.
"M-Mom?" Ash shrieked and rammed himself against the corner of the room. Just as he was about to go for the door, Delia grabbed his shoulders and pushed him into the chair.
"Ash!" Delia yelled. "Don't you dare talk to May like that. You're suppose to be a gentlemen, treat ladies with respect."
"If you talk to my daughter like that again," Mia hissed at Ash, with her fist ready to punch him. "Both me and Diego will sort you out!"
"Whatever," Ash responded with his arms folded and his face to the ceiling.
"May I?" Mia asked Delia.
"Normally I would object," Delia admitted. "But I think he needs it this time."
Mia slapped Ash around the face. "That's for being horrible to my daughter." Everyone gazed in silence as Mia went on to slap him for a second time. "That's for being disrespectful in court." Mia smirked, slapping him for the third and final time. "And that's from Diego."
"Mom," May cried out. "That's enough."
"Sorry May," Mia shouted. "But this guy really deserved it."
"I think Ash and I will need time alone to talk now," May requested. It was starting to get too noisy and too crowded for her liking. Even though she was happy so many people came to visit her in hospital, she wanted them to give Ash time to come back to his true self again. May hoped her mother's slaps would help Ash return to his senses.
Everyone, apart from Ash left the room in single file. Trucy was the last one to leave, closing the door behind her, but her silhouette could easily be seen behind the door. May was as nervous as she was in her first trial and her first contest years ago.
"Come closer to me," May requested as her hand reached out to Ash. He nodded and brought himself and the chair over to May's bed.
"Why did you confess to a murder you didn't commit?"
"I was protecting my friends," Ash suddenly sobbed. May was pretty sure that Trucy could hear them from behind the door, and also Athena with her microscopic hearing.
"Protecting them from what?"
"I couldn't save Cilan," Ash mumbled. "I didn't want to lose anyone else."
"Wait..." May cried out, beginning to feel lost. "Who's Cilan?"
"I travelled with him and Iris in Unova," Ash explained. "He was killed by an assassin: that's what Iris told me."
"Was the assassin by any chance, Shelly De Killer?" May asked, raising an eyebrow and holding Ash's hand.
"That's right," Ash said, grabbing onto his knees as he held back the tears. "Iris wanted revenge on him! Before Cilan was killed, Shelly De Killer murdered Drayden, the Gym Leader and mayor of Opelucid Gym."
"How do you know it was the same person?" May asked curiously.
"The pink seashell," Ash replied. He got a card out of his pocket and presented it to May. It was a plain white card with a pink seashell in the bottom-right corner. "This card is De Killer's symbol right?"
May nodded.
"She had been trying to keep an eye out for De Killer," Ash told May. "She found out through Lance that Shelly De Killer was coming to Kanto – to kill my dad, my brothers and my sister. Iris contacted Misty and Dawn for their support."
"When did you find out about De Killer's plan?"
"Through Misty," Ash admitted. "That's when we all came up with a plan together to capture Shelly De Killer."
"What was the plan?" May asked.
"To make a surprise birthday party for Silver," Ash explained. "If all the people De Killer needed to kill attended the party, then he would would have most likely attended too. Then once we found him, we would capture him and call the police."
May remembered the black psyche locks that once circulated around Ash's heart. They were now all shattered as the chains disappeared. "Ash, was Shelly De Killer meant to be killed that day?"
Ash shook his head. "Nobody was meant to be killed."
"But somebody shot your mother," May explained. "And the assassin can't be the killer, because your mother said that when he came in, he had a knife in his hand. So who do you think killed your mother?"
"Whoever did it," Ash whispered. "It must have been an accident. Mom couldn't have been the target. Mom would have forgiven the killer, and so do I. That's why I had to protect them all."
"But Iris is a Pokémon champion," May reminded Ash. "She wouldn't need the protection because she's above the law. Just like her husband, Lance."
"I didn't know that until after I was in prison," Ash sulked. May thought that would explain the bad blood between Ash and Iris in recent years. "But the others aren't Pokémon champions."
"The others?" May pondered. "You mean Serena, Dawn and Misty?"
Ash nodded. "Professor Oak was in on it too."
"That must be why Gary believes Kai is involved," May said. "Especially after seeing the will. Serena had nothing to do with the plan to capture De Killer did she?" May asked. "That's why you did everything you could to ensure she was never a suspect."
"She shouldn't have been," Ash cried. "Somebody must of spiked her drink or given her alcohol. The alcohol must have been imported in somehow, Mom never had alcohol in the house." Ash lowered his head and then quickly raised it above May's shoulder. His cheeks were washed with his own tears.
"Any idea who?" May asked.
Ash shook his head.
"When did you lose your hat?" May asked Ash.
"On the day Mom died," Ash admitted. "Serena knocked it off me. I thought I would go and find it later. How could it have gotten to Pewter City though?"
"Maybe somebody found it," May told him. "But they couldn't give it to you, because they didn't want to be considered a suspect or an accomplice."
Ash buried his head in his hands. "The last thing I wanted was for you to defend me."
"Why?" May asked as she watched the tears roll down his face.
"Because I'm useless," he screeched. "Couldn't save my friends, couldn't even save my own family. I'm just a weakling. No wonder my siblings wanted nothing to do with me."
"Ash pull yourself together," May demanded. She slapped his cheek harder than her mother, but then pinched it tightly for five seconds. Then the whole of her hand stretched out and rested on his hot cheek. "You're not useless. You've saved the world so many times in the past. You're not a weakling either, you're one of the strongest people I've ever met. And... I love you."
"I love you too," Ash admitted. "But I did something bad in prison."
"It doesn't matter any more," May confessed as she kissed him on the other cheek. "That's in the past. We're going to work together to create a brighter future. Ash, don't ever forget...that I love you. You're the reason I became a lawyer."
"Huh?" Ash gasped. He was no longer crying as he held his hand by his heart. "You actually gave up your Pokémon journey for me."
"I just knew that I couldn't continue without you," May sighed.
Ash smiled for the first time in five years. It was truly a beautiful moment for May, she tried to smile even bigger than Ash. He chuckled, "I'm sorry for being mean to you. I should have been honest with you straight away."
"PIKACHU!" the electric mouse came rushing into the room and bounced onto Ash's shoulder. "Pika Pi!"
"It's good to be back, Pikachu."
"That's it!" May exclaimed with her fists in the air. "Tomorrow morning, we'll start our investigation!"
"HOLD IT!" Apollo yelled as he opened the door. "The doctor said you'd need at least four weeks to recover."
"Four weeks is too long," May snapped as she flew out of her bed. "I screwed up by pinning all this on Serena, but that won't happen again, I'm going to get Serena acquitted even if it's the last thing I do."
May stumbled on her feet as she tripped up and landed in Ash's arms. As flustered as she was, she couldn't help but smile as she saw Ash's face.
"We'll see how you're feeling tomorrow," Phoenix said with a slick grin.
Athena clasped her hands together and said, "Aww, this is so romantic."
"Was that what you and Mr. Blackquill yesterday, Athena?" Trucy asked Athena.
Athena said nothing as her ruby glowing cheeks said it all.